After a solid start, playoffs suddenly look far away

12:58 PM,
Nov. 6, 2012

Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green, right, and tight end Orson Charles head off the field Sunday after their loss.

Written by

Joe Reedy
jreedy@enquirer.com

After the first quarter of the season, the Bengals were 3-1 and had a 75 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Now they are losers of four straight, and the road to ending that 30-year drought of back-to-back playoff appearances is a lot harder.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, of the 121 teams that started the season 3-5 since 1990, when the current playoff format began, only seven have made the playoffs. Of those seven, five are from the AFC, but the last one to make it as a wild card was Jacksonville in 1996. ...